Against Myself - Charlie Weasley (LGBTQ)
by ampoke
Summary: At the start of third year, Jackson Briar had yet to be found after his father was murdered. Two weeks before Christmas break, Charlie Weasley finds the missing boy reorganizing his dorm room. "Where'd you go, Briar?" Charlie asked, spinning a clay dragon between his fingers. "Dragons," I said. "Fought them off, one by one." "Tell me about them." - LGBTQ / Charlie x Male OC Second


"Happy birthday to you," I sung in a whispered. "Happy birthday to you… happy birthday dear Winters. Happy birthday to you."

The sun was rising steadily over the horizon, its rays of warmth lighting up the white of my skin. It'd been a little over five months since I'd seen the sun. Even though I knew it couldn't be healthy to experience it all at once, I basked in the light.

Winters even relaxed in my arms, letting her small frame take in a little light as well.

"Train?" she asked me in a rasp of shredded vocal cords.

I smiled down at her and nodded.

"Takes us just a few minutes from Hogsmeade. We're going to Hogwarts, Winters!" I told her gleefully. "Aren't you excited?"

She just smiled and tucked her head back into my chest. Her energy was so easily exhausted that I didn't even bother trying to move her for at least five hours. When the sun was burning hot in the November sky, I moved both of us out of the direct light.

"Hogs… meade?" Winters groaned into my chest.

"Three more hours, love," I said, holding her a little tighter.

The closer we got to Scotland, the thicker and darker the clouds got. When it finally started raining, the wind blew the rain right into the back of the train compartment. I soaked up the coolness of each water droplet touching my skin like a dying man would accept fresh air.

"Are you cold?" I whispered down to Winters.

She tried to sit up in my arms, wincing as her muscles struggled to support her. She looked into the rain and smiled a little. Winters stuck her hand out into the storm and let the rain soak her skin. She giggled a little and forced her legs to hang out of the back of the train as well.

"Careful," I told her, moving to sit next to her and wrapping an arm around her and making sure that she was secured against me.

Winters pointed to a sign on the side of the tracks.

"Hogsmeade!"

And she was right. A wooden sign that the Muggles definitely couldn't see, said ENTERING HOGSMEADE 4 KM.

I looked down at the tracks speeding beneath our feet. I held my breath for a moment, trying to work out a plan of how exactly we were meant to get off. The train we were on was filled with nothing more than supplies so it wouldn't be stopping at any point.

"We're going to have to jump off," I warned Winters. "You've got to hold onto me, okay? I'm not going to let you get hurt."

Winters just nodded and smiled into the rain. She was one strong kid.

"I like rain," she rasped.

"It's nice to be outside, isn't it?"

She started to say something, but her voice restricted her.

She'd screamed so loud over the last few months that it was no surprise that she didn't have a voice. From what I'd heard, it wasn't the first time she'd been in that dungeon. When she'd have nightmares she's wake up crying out for someone named Viktor. She'd say she didn't want to go back. Then she'd look around and see the musty dungeon of the Malfoy Manor and her face would always drop back into the same sorrowful look I'd never seen her without.

"We've got to get ready to jump," I said.

Winters just nodded and wrapped her arms around my middle, ready to hold on.

Though she was newly nine years old, she was so small compared to the other two Winters girls that I'd seen in the Manor the few times I'd been out of the dungeon. She'd been so malnutrition for so long that it'd permanently affected her body.

"One," I said into her hair, preparing the jump. "Two, three!"

Winters yelped as her arms slipped from the impact onto the train tracks.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, scared she'd been hurt.

She nodded and dangled her feet towards the ground.

"Walk," she mumbled, struggling to get out of my grasp.

Slowly, I set her on the ground, letting her feet touch the wet grass of Hogsmeade. She held onto my hand, not fully used to the act of walking yet.

Far in the distance, the lights of Hogwarts could be seen. We were on the furthest corner of the town, opposite of where I'd known the Hogwarts express to drop us off. Dusk was freshly falling on a cold November night so I was sure that by the time we'd get to Hogwarts, dinner would have just started. The thought of food made my mouth water and my stomach felt suddenly empty.

The trek to Hogwarts was nowhere near easy. My body started to wear down as. The hunger was taking a toll and carrying Winters, despite how light she was, was draining my strength. Winters would fall and need to be carried every ten minutes and then insist on walking and slowing us down until she lost all sensation of her legs again. Her persistence was normally heartwarming, but with the sun setting, we needed to be moving faster than she was allowing.

"Jacks-" she whispered, falling into the tall grass again. This time she didn't hold her arms out for me to carry her. Instead she laid, unmoving. Her breathing was slowing and her face quickly grew more pale than normal.

"Winters?" I called, pulled her into my arms. "You're not going to give up on me, Winters! Not today."

Suddenly there was adrenaline pumping through me. I couldn't think about the hunger anymore. I couldn't feel the weakness in my muscles anymore.

I picked Winters up and held her tight across my chest, measuring out the rest of the journey to Hogwarts. We were just passing the Hogwarts Express stop. Hogwarts had to be another twenty minute walk.

So I ran.

I waded through the tall grass, slid through the muddy patches closer to the lake and found myself standing next to the beach tree that was planted on the side of the lake closest to Hogwarts.

Winters' lips were turning blue and her skin growing colder.

"No, no, no!"

It was like the last twenty feet to the castle were the hardest that I'd faced. I tripped over small rocks and nothing at all. My legs started to feel stiff and moving was almost impossible as I stepped into the warm Hogwarts castle.

"Help me!" I yelled as soon as I got into the Entrance Hall. "Help me! She's going to die!"

I dropped to my knees in the entrance of the Great Hall. My body was spent. I was exhausted from running to catch the train, from the train ride, from the journey to the castle.

"Jackson?" some yelled. "McGonagall it's Jackson Briar!"

"She's dying!" I said over and over again as professors started to surround me.

"Who is this girl, Briar?" Professor Dumbledore asked me calmly.

"They called her Winters. There were three of them, but the other two are still there."

"Where?"

"Malfoy Manor."

"Someone get ahold of Remus Lupin!" yelled McGonagall. "Tell him we found one of the girls."

"Jackson," someone said, grabbing at my arm. "Jackson?"

I reached out for someone as the room started spinning and blackness covered Winters and all the people attending to her.

"Don't let her die," I said as I felt the world around me get engulfed in a sheet of darkness.

"Do you remember me?" asked a calm, tired voice near me.

I rolled my head over to see Winters laying in a bed, her eyes open and staring at an older man sitting next to her.

"Daddy?" she whispered.

"I'm your godfather," he clarified. "Remus."

"Uncle Sirius?" she asked, looking around. "Uncle James."

"Just me," he said, brushing long black strands of hair from her face. "I missed you so much, Jordan."

She smiled at him and closed her eyes again.

"Goodnight Uncle Remus."

"How could you tell her that?" Professor McGonagall whispered angrily at Remus. "After all that she's lost, you can't even tell her the truth?"

"I'm a werewolf, Minerva. I cannot take care of a child by myself. Especially someone who has already seen so much pain in such a short life. Do you understand how much it pains me not to take her myself?"

Professor McGonagall pulled Remus into a hug.

"I'm just glad we found them, Remus. I've thought of them every single day since- well, since everything happened."

"You and me both, Minerva," said Remus, smiling at her. "You and me both. What about Jet and Jasmine? Did you find them?"

"Both living at the Malfoy Manor like some part of the family. How her and Jackson ended up like this is some kind of mystery to me. Lucius should be here soon if you'd like to wait and see what he has to say for himself."

"I really should be going. I've got to set things up with the orphanage."

"Take care Remus," she said, patting his arm.

He turned to look at Winters one last time and then his eyes fell on me.

"Jackson Briar, correct?"

I nodded, trying to sit up.

"Arty Briar's son… I'm so sorry about your dad. He was a great help when Jordan and her sisters went missing."

I smiled at him.

"And now I guess I can say the same about you," said Remus, shaking my hand. "Thank you for bringing her back, Jackson. You'll have to give me a little time, but I will repay you for saving her life."

"You don't have to-" I started.

"I won't hear of anything like that. I'll be seeing you soon, Jackson. Thank you again."

It wasn't long after he left that I slipped back into sleep, hearing nothing but the silence of the hospital wing.

"Why does she look like that, then Mr. Malfoy?" said Professor McGonagall loud enough to wake me up.

"You have to punish naughty children, Minerva. They just so happened to jump onto a train on one of the days that I had them in the dungeon. It's something I do to the other two and Draco whenever they do something I don't approve of. It teaches discipline."

"Half of her bones were broken when she got here. Both of them are malnurited to a point of not being able to eat solid foods. What in Merlin's name were you thinking?"

"I don't have to answer you."

"Madam Connell, you cannot possibly understand how grateful we are they you've agreed to take them both in."

"That is my job, isn't it?" spat a severely overweight witch, standing with Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"Obviously Miss.- Well, uh, Winters, will be traveling back to London with you, and Mr. Briar will be arriving during Christmas break and coming back afterwards," explained McGonagall.

"Yes, I understand Dumbledore. I'll take the girl now, if you don't mind. I've got an orphanage to run."

"You're sending us to an orphanage?" I asked, looking to Winters who was obviously listening as well. Tears were welling up in her eyes.

"I want to go with Remus," she cried.

"You cannot live with a werewolf, girl. It's dangerous," said Madam Connell, collecting a bag that had been packed for Winters. "Come on them, Madam Pomfrey said you should be able to walk now."

"We've been here for one day!"

"Jackson," said Dumbledore calmly. "You and Miss. Winters arrived here just over two weeks ago."

"No, we got here last night."

"Leave him alone, Dumbledore," scolded Madam Pomfrey, pouring something green into a cup for me to drink. "He's been unconscious the whole time. And for good reason, I'd say."

"Jacks!" Winters yelled, struggling against Madam Connell. "I don't wanna go with her! I want to stay with Jacks!"

She untangled herself from the older woman's grasped and jumped onto my bed, wrapping her arms around me.

"Don't let her take me, Jacks."

"Come on, Winters," I whispered, pulling her up enough to look her in the face. "She's a nice lady. She's going to take you to live with a bunch of other kids your age. And I'll be there in just a couple of weeks, okay?"

"I don't want to without you."

"I'll write you," I told her, glancing up the Madam Connell for approval. She rolled her eyes, but nodded nonetheless. "All the time."

"Come with us now," she whispered.

"You've gotta be brave for me, Winters. Just like you were when we ran away and like you were when we jumped off the train. Hold your chin up high and be brave."

"And you'll see me soon?"

"Two weeks."

She nodded slowly, looking between all of the people who were staring at us with intent.

It had to be a strange sight for everyone. Two people who'd been missing for as least five months suddenly showing up, weak and broken but still attached at the hip.

"I'll go with her."

"Thank you, Winters," I said, kissing her forehead. "I'll see you soon."


End file.
